Iranian judicial officials revealed that 43 people have been indicted in Iran's western province of Kermanshah for participating in recent anti-establishment protests.

In an interview with Mizan Online, the official website of Iranian judiciary, Mohammad Hossein Sadeghi, the provincial public prosecutor said on Wednesday that the indicted individuals have been under the influence of "cyberspace" and their cases have been handed over to court for review.

Islamic Republic security and judicial officials, as well as hardliners, often try to explain away opposition activism as agitation from abroad, via the internet or satellite TV channels.

Sadeghi described the protests that occurred early this year as "sad incidents" and added that they have caused the country "damage".

He acknowledged that they were "partially" due to economic problems in the country, but added that they were quickly led into "deconstructive behavior" that were eventually restrained by the judiciary and the security forces, "successfully".

Sadeghi downplayed the number of the cases referred to courts and said the majority of those arrested had attended the protests "out of ignorance" and therefore they have been released on bail.

The prosecutor did not provide any details about the duration of sentences or the amount of any fines awaiting the accused.

The protests started on December 28, 2017 in eastern city of Mashhad with slogans against economic problems and corruption. Soon it spread throughout the country and turned into demonstrations against the clerical rule and specially the Supreme Leader ayatollah Khamenei.

According to official numbers, thousands of protesters were detained and at least 25 of them have been killed.

The protests also led to a temporary filtering of the social media website Instagram and the messaging app Telegram. Protesters were using these platforms to organize rallies and publish their videos.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and some other Iranian officials have accused the U.S., Saudi Arabia, and Israel to be behind the protests. They claimed that these countries have used the internet and particularly the social media to ignite unrest in Iran.

In an op-ed for Radio Farda, Said Peyvandi, an Iranian sociologist residing in Paris describes the previous Persian calendar year which ended on March 20, as the year of the "big defeat" for the Iranian regime in the "media war".

The widespread usage of telecommunication technologies, including social media have allowed Iranians to be connected without being under the radar of the regime, Peyvandi wrote.

According to him, the fact that some Iranian officials have been forced to react to news published on social media, and others to insist on their filtering, speaks for their importance.

Grenades, knives and tools found in the possession of three Palestinian suspects who crossed into Israel from the Gaza Strip and were caught outside the Tzeelim army base in southern Israel

The Israel Defense Forces captured three armed Palestinians on Tuesday morning after they crossed the Gaza security fence and traveled approximately 20 kilometers (12 miles) into Israeli territory, the army said.

The suspects were found in possession of knives and grenades, the military said. The tools that were apparently used to cut through the fence were also recovered.

A bomb disposal robot was brought to the area to disarm the grenades, police said.

"This was an incident that shouldn't have happened. We are investigating it and will learn lessons from it," IDF Spokesperson Brig. Gen. Ronen Manelis said in a statement, adding that the infiltration could have had dangerous consequences.

The suspects were arrested outside the Tzeelim army base at 10:35 a.m., approximately an hour and a half after IDF soldiers first spotted signs of infiltration.

An IDF official said the army was unsure when the three men crossed the fence. The army was looking into reports of a suspicious incident that was spotted by military surveillance cameras in the middle of the night, though the official said it may be unrelated.

Palestinians from the Gaza Strip regularly try to cross into Israel, but they are generally spotted immediately by soldiers who monitor security cameras and are quickly captured on the Israeli side of the fence.

It was not immediately clear what went wrong on Tuesday. "The circumstances of the incident are being investigated," the army said.

The military handed the suspects over to the Shin Bet security service for questioning in order to determine their motives and any connections to terrorist groups.

While the weapons and the suspects' efforts to remain undetected indicated ill intent, there have been cases of Gaza residents entering Israel with weapons in order to be caught and sent to prison, rather than having to continue to live in the beleaguered coastal enclave.

One of the aspects of this case that military investigators are trying to work out is why the suspects didn't use the weapons at their disposal, even though they had ample opportunity to do so, the army official said.

For instance, at one point, the men were caught on surveillance camera walking by Kibbutz Tzeelim, which is located down the road from the army base. The gate to the community was open, but the men passed by it without entering.

The three suspects, whose names were not immediately released, are all members of the same family from the southern Gaza city of Rafah, the official said.

After arresting the three men, the IDF notified Israeli communities in the area that the situation was normal and that there was no further need for their security personnel to be on high alert.

Earlier, the army announced that soldiers had spotted signs of infiltration from the southern Gaza Strip and launched a manhunt.

Tensions have been on the rise in the area around the Gaza Strip in recent weeks, following a number of security incidents along the security fence and a large demonstration that is planned for Friday.

As a result, the army has brought reinforcements into the area and its soldiers are on high alert.

Manelis said the army would prevent protesters from crossing the fence on Friday. "I recommend that they don't test us," he said.

It was the second infiltration by Gazans in under a week.

On Saturday, a group of four masked Palestinian men cut through the chain link security fence around Gaza and briefly entered Israeli territory. Inside, they tried to set fire to machinery being used to construct a new above- and below-ground barrier that Israel is building around the coastal enclave.

An 85-year-old Holocaust survivor's body was found burnt and stabbed inside her Paris apartment in an horrific anti-Semitic attack , Israel National News reported.

Authorities have a suspect, her 35 year old Muslim neighbor who the victim knew since childhood.

The National Bureau for Vigilance Against Anti-Semitism (BNVCA) said the body of the woman, identified only as Mireille K., was set on fire Friday night. Her charred body also had at least 11 stab wounds. Police have a suspect in custody in connection with her death.

"For the Jews of France, the nightmare continues. 85-year-old Holocaust survivor Mireille K. was stabbed and burned in the heart of Paris", French-Jewish politician Meyer Habib said on Sunday.

"While France is still traumatized by the terrorist attack in Trebes, we are discovering today the shocking murder of Mireille K., an 85-year-old Holocaust survivor who was stabbed and burned to death at her home in Paris' 11th District." Habib Said.

On Friday, 25-year-old Radouane Lakdim , a Moroccan-born French national, went on a shooting spree in Trebes, hijacking a car ,shooting two people inside and killing one, then killing three more in a supermarket after taking hostages, including a French police Lt, who tried to negotiate with Lakdim. Investigators found notes in Ladkim's home which refer to IS, a legal source said, including a hand-written letter in which he claimed allegiance to the jihadist group, BBC reported.

" I spoke at length this evening with David K., one of the sons of Mireille of blessed memory, to express my condolences and support during these difficult moments. I will meet him tonight or tomorrow," Habib continued.

"Unfortunately, the number of victims rises but it seems that the story repeats itself: Like Sarah Halimi of blessed memory (who was murdered by her Muslim neighbor who threw her out of her window), Mireille also knew the suspect – who is currently under arrest – her 35-year-old Muslim neighbor whom she had known since he was a child."

"Like Sarah Halimi, in this case as well, the French authorities are very careful about linking the murder to an anti-Semitic motive. The family has no doubt about the anti-Semitic background of the incident," added Habib.

"For Sarah, it took almost 10 months for the legal authorities to recognize the obvious reality. What about Mireille? The investigation has begun, but I am afraid that after Sarah, Mireille also fell victim to the hatred of Jews which is increasingly seen in the suburbs, against the backdrop of Islamic radicalization, hatred of Israel but also hatred of France."

"Like the murder of Sarah Halimi, in this case, as well, I intend to fight along with other Jewish organizations for the sake of justice and truth," concluded Habib.

There has been a wave of anti-Semitism and terrorism in France in recent months.

The scrawling of swastikas and arson of 2 Kosher butcher shops in Creteil, the slashing of a young girl's face in Sarcelles, an anonymous letter and threats against the synagogue in Saint-Maur are just a few recent Anti-Semitic incidents.

France has suffered a series of major Islamist attacks over the past three years, including the massacre at the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, the November 2015 attacks that killed 130 in Paris, and the 2016 Bastille Day truck attack in Nice. The most recent assault came in October when a Tunisian man stabbed to death two women at Marseille's railway station, Times of Israel reported.